The recent publicity about the mass shootings prompted me to write this post. 

We were riding across a field having checked out my brother-in-law's deer feeder. He had been having trouble with raccoons stealing deer corn. 

"You take any deer with your Henry this year?" I asked.  I knew he had just traded his old Marlin lever action in on the Henry lever action rifle.

"I got two," he said with a grin as the Gator hit another bump. I had my hand on the grab bar as the little ATV carried us back to house he had personally designed for himself and my sister. 

"Got one of those assault rifles?" I asked thinking of the recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton. 

"No-o-o! Carried a M-16 in Nam. That was the last time I had one of those assault rifles. My Henry does everything I need in a  rifle.  I don't know why anybody would want one, but lotta guys buy 'em." 

I too am a veteran of the Vietnam War and qualified with a M-16 too. I grew up on a farm and have never owned a rifle though. Daddy always said they were too dangerous. He said the bullets went too far. I did have a shotgun when I was eight years old though. As I gave more thought to recent events I decided to research gun ownership a bit further.

Are there more mass shootings than ever before? The answer to this question depends on the definition of mass shooting. there are several definitions. Most data indicate there is not an increase.  However, in today's print and electronic purveyors of news you would think so. The media tends to overly report these events. The competition among media outlets is such that the truth sometimes becomes irrelevant. We must always remember that news media are profit making identities. Therefore  I have sought to get most of my data from government agencies. 

I continued to interview people. I decided that I would talk to friends of mine who were gun owners. And I would talk to some folks that didn't own guns. Let me say that the guys I talked with were not old guys like me. Some responded quickly with, " Why do we need regulation anyway? Criminals will always have guns! Why shouldn't I have a gun to protect myself and what if the government tries to take my stuff!" 

I was talking to a young man on the west coast.  I was curious about why he owned a AR-15. For protection he said.  “But what about the police force?” I asked.

He responded with, “Do you know how many times an assailant can shoot me by the time the cops would get to me?” I had to admit I did not have an answer. 

Then I asked,“ What about thirty round capacity magazines? Wouldn’t a ten round magazine reduce the firepower of the mass shooters?”

“And it would also reduce my ability to defend myself. While I’m changing magazines I could be shot!”

I talked with another friend on the West Coast who was a member of a club who joined to gather to manufacture their own M-16 receivers. The receiver is the part of the gun which determines the action in his case a fully automatic M-16.  Since such receivers would have no serial numbers they would be untraceable. I asked why. He said, “ It’s all about the Second Amendment which gives me the right to hold and bear arms. If the government becomes too powerful and infringes on my individual rights, I can defend myself. I’m investing in bullets and beans. I’ve got survival foods and converted some of my assets to gold. I am ready for the next revolution.”

I did find a couple of people that agreed that smaller magazines was probably be a good idea. Most agree with better background checks but the hard core said we had too much checking now.  Everyone agreed that mentally unstable and convicted felons should not allowed to buy  guns.  

During this time I viewed Ben Shapiro’s interview Piers Morgan. Morgan of course believes that the government should confiscate the public’s guns. He cites examples in the UK where this has been done with marked decrease in gun crime. However, there was a marked increase in knife crime.  Another note on a Piers Morgan interview while he was employed by CNN.  After the Sandy Hook School shooting Morgan was interviewing various celebrities. With filmmaker Michael Moore at his side he called the actor, L.L. Cool J, on the west coast for his reaction.  The star of NCIS Las Angeles was quick to say he was a gun owner in case he needed to protect himself from an oppressive government. The surprised Morgan had no comment. 

• What’s my idea after my research. Well my opinion hasn’t changed much. 
• I think extensive background checks are a good idea. 
• A waiting time for the delivery of the gun to a customer should be in days or months rather than hours. 
• I think limiting magazine size to ten rounds is a good idea although when I was younger a .22 caliber semi-automatic held 22 cartridges in a tubular magazine. 
• Reducing the possibility of the mentally deranged obtaining guns is good idea. Once the mentally handicapped were incarcerated and kept away from the public.  But then it was decided that this was inhumane and many less severe 
• cases were released and allowed to self medicate. 
• Magazine size on so-called assault shotguns should be reduced also. There should be some mandatory gun operation and safety instruction at the point of purchase. 

My observations:  Are assault rifles with high capacity magazines the problem? I don’t think so. In 1966 Charles Whitman killed 14 people shooting from the tower on the University of Texas campus with a deer rifle. Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a bomb in Oklahoma city. 

Gun laws are for people who obey the law. Criminals will always have guns. Government is not the solution. Look what they’ve done with rail passenger service, mail service, veterans medical care, and education. There are no success stories here. Until the people in Washington really care about the people they represent nothing will change.